


Passerby

by FireEye



Category: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-13
Updated: 2011-05-13
Packaged: 2017-10-19 08:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/198806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lost little girl and a soldier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Passerby

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Birgit Riddle](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Birgit+Riddle).



> Prompt: I'd love to see a story about the girl that Aki Ross found one of the spirits in. Who was the girl's mother? What was she dying from? How did she come to be so cynical so that she'd respond to Aki the way she did? Maybe a story about the girl and who she was before she fell ill even.
> 
> Also: This may make more sense if you've seen the concept art of the trees floating around.

The Arboretum was open to everyone, twenty-four hours.  Caught up in the daily struggle for survival, fewer people visited it as time wore on; at any given  hour of the day, there were yet a handful of people, soldiers and civilians, coming or going on business or simply to relax.

No one spared a glance to the little girl huddled in the shadow of a frail oak tree.  Park employees ignored her.  Every morning, for the better part of a week, she had appeared on a random tier of the park, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting, sometimes wandering amidst the trees on display.

One soldier, jogging this particular catwalk, caught a glimpse of her on his third circuit.  On his sixth, he slowed to a walk, finally stopping by her side.

“Hey, kid.”  When she didn’t answer, he knelt to her level.  “Hey... what’re you doing up here, all by yourself?”

She didn’t look at him, squirming under his steady gaze.  “I’m looking for my dad.”

“Yeah?”  She was pouting at her shoes again, so he poked her shoulder.  “What’s he look like?  Maybe I’ve seen him.”

“I don’t know.”  The girl shrugged, hunching her body at an angle.  “I don’t remember him too good.”

“Well...” At a loss, the solider glanced at the tree, then around at the park.  A civilian passed them by, chatting with a USMF scientist.  “What makes you think he’ll be here?”

“Last time I saw him, was here... I think.”  The girl picked at the lining of her shoe, still avoiding his gaze.  “He said he’d come back, but I don’t know where he went; mom said he had to fight the Phantoms.”

The soldier bit his lip, considering this.  “Where’s your mom?”

“At home.”  At this, the girl finally looked at him.  “She’s sick.  I thought if I could find dad, maybe he could make her better....”

“Where’s home?”

“The undercity.”

There were plenty of empty apartments in the city, open to anyone who would claim them.  While the majority of people were accounted for, some always slipped through the cracks, especially after every fallen barrier city and Phantom Cleansing Mission.

“All right,” the soldier said.  He stood up and offered the girl a hand.  “Let’s go find your mom, then we’ll see about finding your dad.”

She stared at him suspiciously.  “Mom said I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”

“That’s true,” the man reasoned, “but if your dad is a soldier like me, then I’m not exactly a stranger.”

For a moment, he thought she would reject him.  But then she nodded tightly.  “Okay....”

She took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet.  “C’mon.  Let’s go find your mom.”

  


  
_  
**the end  
**   
_   


  


**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact about Meg: she was originally Gray's daughter.


End file.
